The Contradiction Between Race and Class: Enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Acts

吴小艳 四川大学 四川成都 610041

Abstract: Chinese Exclusion Acts are a series of laws enacted by American Congress between the late 19th and early 20th century in order to control the number of Chinese immigrants. In the debate over the acts, it contains great contradiction between the notion of race and class. And the seemingly contradiction served the economic and political interests of America.

Keywords: Chinese Exclusion Acts, racial inferiority, Chinese laborers; Merchant class

Since the early 1850s, the anti-Chinese movements prevailed in America, particularly in the western states. Therefore, the restriction of Chinese immigration became a pressing problem faced by the federal government. Accordingly, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 which banned all Chinese laborers from entering America for 10 years. Followed by a series of amendments in succeeding years, it was extended indefinitely in 1904 and was not abolished until 1943, when America intended to keep a good relation with China in World War II (Liu and Shen 139). This immigration policy is significant in American immigration history, because it was the first law to restrict the immigration of a particular nation and also represented the first massive effort of federal government to control immigration (Stevens 277).

Since the passage of Chinese Exclusion Acts,numerous works have been published. Most of them focus on racism, political economy of Chinese immigration and the important role of Chinese in the construction of trans-pacific railroad. Based on the previous research, this paper intends to reveal the notion of race and class permeated in Chinese Exclusion Acts contains great incoherence and paradox, which served the self-interests of the United States.

In the debates over the anti-Chinese exclusion,proponents in Congress underlined the racial inferiority of Chinese as their justification.Declaring Chinese as a great evil and terrible scourge, they confidently expressed Chinese was an inferior race incapable of assimilation. In order to prove their ideas, they proclaimed that "The American race is progressive and in favor of a responsible government. The Mongolian race seems to have no desire for progress, and to have no conception of representative and free constitutions"(U.S. Congress V). Mr. Z. F. McSweeny, former Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, pronounced the Chinese was a nation of criminal instincts,the mentally unsound, thus unable to make a living by honest means (Perkins 22-3). And the most ironic idea is that the theory of "survival of the fittest" was applied to defend the restriction of Chinese immigration. George C. Perkins, senator from California, Proclaimed Chinese was capable of enduring more hardships, of living on cheaper food and of needing less clothing and shelter than any other civilized people, thus capable of competing with any race on earth (17). Therefore,those narratives explicitly showed that racism was permeated in anti-Chinese exclusion. And people in Congress firmly believed racial inferiority was biologically decided.

while Chinese was depicted as a nation with biological character flaws, the Chinese merchant class was praised by members of Congress as a superior group who should be exempted from the exclusion. Apparently omitting the awkward logic of the so-called biological category, the Congress men drew clear lines of demarcation between Chinese laborers and merchants.

[Merchants] were educated men, they understood our language, and they were respectable people...but they were a very small portion of the Chinese population. The great mass of them [the Chinese] are in the very lowest depth of degradation. (qtd. in Calavita 258-9)

Therefore, there is a sharp contrast and great self-contradiction in the debates over Chinese exclusion. When referring to Chinese laborers, race was emphasized, while for merchants, the notion of class dominated. But why did they entertain such obviously contradictive ideas? The main reason is for protecting their self-interests. The exemption of Chinese merchants from the exclusion is in accordance with both America’s economic interests and the parties’ political interests.

Chinese merchants had a great lucrative trade potential for Americans, because China was a great market ever since the Opium War made China reopen it’s gate to the outside world. Great trade communication between China and America was built in the second half of the 19th century. For instance, A large amount of quicksilver and flour were exported from California to China prior to the passage of Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. According to statistics, in California alone, the total amount of quicksilver exported to China in 1875, 1879 and 1880 was 16,856, 36,896, and 19,488 flasks respectively,with the total value of $928,577, $1,073,183, and$578,190 respectively; and the total amount of flour exports to China in 1866, 1870, and 1875 was 160,960, 138,372 and 107,858 barrels respectively,with the total value of $631,791, $658,454, and$550,887 respectively (qtd. in Sinn 228). Therefore,it’s an incontestable fact that there was a close trade link between China and America during that period. Undoubtedly the Chinese merchants contributed a lot to it. Thus the great economic interests brought by Chinese merchants couldn’t be ignored by the members of Congress.

Above all, the two parties in America could gain their political interests from the exclusion of only Chinese laborers. At first, the anti-Chinese movements, especially those against Chinese laborers, only prevailed in western states for the majority of Chinese laborers who were concentrated here worked hard and were able to make a living by very low wages, thus becoming great competitors for white workers in west coast. Besides, as an increasing number of people from eastern states marched towards the west in the second half of the 19th century, more and more states joined the American union. And those newly founded states were of superior importance in American politics. They even became such a great power that could decide American politics and were the targets which both democratic and republican parties wanted to please(Wang 188). Since 1876, the number of electoral votes in California, Oregon, and Washington was sufficient to control the results of six successive US presidential elections because the two parties were indeed evenly matched, even in the three major Pacific states. And California, the state with the most electoral votes, took the lead in asking presidential candidates to meet their political appeal in foreign policy (Hatcher 47). Therefore,in order to gain the votes of the western states in the presidential election , the exclusion of Chinese laborers became an important issue for both democratic and republican parties.

To sum up, the Chinese Exclusion Acts were of vital importance for both China and America in history. They engendered immeasurable consequences for China. And the act in 1882 was the first immigration policy in American history to restrict a particular nation and proved to be a false policy in later development of American history. And there was great incoherence and self-contradiction between the notion of race and class during the debates and enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Proclaiming the whole Chinese nation as racial inferiority based on the biological standard,the members of Congress praised Chinese merchant class as an educated, honorable and superior group who should be excluded from the exclusion.Therefore, social class overwhelmed race in this context. And self-interests was the the root of the contradiction. On the one hand, Chinese merchants had a great trade potential for Americans and they had already brought great economic profits to America right before the passage of Chinese exclusion act. On the other hand, both democratic and republican parties could gain their political interests from the exclusion of Chinese laborers,because they had to meet the political appeal of the voters in western states in order to gain their support in the presidential election. Therefore,the seemingly contradiction between race and class can satisfy not only the economic interests of the United States, but also the political interests of the two parties.

Works Cited

【1】Calavita, Kitty. "Collisions at the Intersection of Gender, Race, and Class: Enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Laws." Law & Society Review,Vol. 40, no. 2, Jun. 2006, pp. 249-281.

【2】Hatcher, P L. "How Local Issues Drive Foreign Policy." Orbis, Vol. 47, no. 1, 1996, pp.45-52.

【3】Perkins, George C.. "Reasons for Continued Chinese Exclusion." The North American Review, Vol.183, no. 596, Jul. 1906, pp. 15-23.

【4】Sinn, Elizabeth. "Pacific Ocean Highway to Gold Mountain, 1850-1900." Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 83, no. 2, Specific Issue:Conversations on Transpacific History, May 2014, pp.220-237.

【5】Stevens, Todd. "Tender Ties: Husbands’Rights and Racial Exclusion in Chinese Marriage Cases, 1882-1924." Law and Social Inquiry, Vol. 27,no. 2, April 2002, pp. 271-305.

【6】U.S. Congress, Senate. Report of the Joint Special Committee to Investigate Chinese Immigration. U.S. Congress, 1877.

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